Aeroplane



E. H. LANIER AEROPLANE July 7, 1931.

Filed Nov. 19. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY E. H. LANIER AEROPLANEJuly 7, 1931.

Filed Nov. 19, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 iNVENTOR awara 6f 1 arr/e1?ATTORNEY July 7, E931. E. H. LANIER 7 1,813,627

AEROPLANE Filed Nov. 19. 1930 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR [award/Alair/e1:

ATTORNEY Patented July 7, 1931 PATENT OFFICE EDWARD H. LANIER, OFCOVINGTON, KENTUCKY AEROPLANE Application filed November 19, 1930.Serial No. 496,725.

lift in which the wings can be wholly elim-' inated or reduced to dwarfwings, i. e., wings of little lifting power but of suflicient area toserve as supports for the ailerons. It IS therefor a principal object ofmy invention to provide an aeroplane which has l ttle or no wing areaand yet possesses the principal advantages possessed by the planes of mypatents aforeaid.

Further, it is an object to provide an aeroplane with a vacuum chamberhaving dihedral flares extended laterally sufficiently to 5 serve inplace of wings entirely or substantially.

Further, it is an object to provide such an aeroplane with dwarf wings,for example, which may extend at a level below that of the lateralflares so as to support the ailerons usually employed in aeroplanes.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed outhereinafter.

To the attainment of the aforesaid objects and ends, the invention stillfurther resides in the novel details of construction, combination andarrangement of parts, all of which will be first fully described in thefollowing detailed description, then be particularly pointed out in theappepded claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, inwhich I Figure 1 is a perspective view of my present invention showingthe same without the usual wings.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a front elevation thereof.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of my present invention showing the sameprovided with dwarf wings.

In the drawings I have illustrated my invention as applied to an openvcockpit type of plane, although it is obvious that the invention mayalso be applied to cabin types, as in dicated in my patents aforesaid.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, it will be observed that 1represents the body of the aeroplane, which may be of any approvedconstruction, the open cockpit type fuselage being illustrated for thepurposes of this application.

The front landing gear is indicated by 2 and the tail skid by 3, whilethe usual tail rudders and elevators are indicated by the numeral 4. Thepropeller is indicated by the numeral 5. In open cockpit type machinesthere are openings provided at 6 and 7 for the passengers and aviator,these openings being provided with side ports, if desired, or theaviator may simply step over the top of the fuselage into the openingsprovided. All of the aforesaid structure may be of any approved type, orin lieu of the open cockpit type of fuselage shown the cabin type, sucgas indicated in my prior patents, may be use Extending upwardly alongthe top of the body is a fin or longitudinal structure 8, the side wallsof which extend upwardly and laterally to merge with the under walls ofthe vacuum chamber that is located above the body 1 and united to it bythe tin or longitudinal structure 8. At the front the tin 8 has anupwardly and forwardly inclined wall 9 from which extends upwardly andbackwardly a wall 10, the walls 9 and 10 conweight of the entire flarewithout the use of the ordinary wings now so commonly employed 1naeroplanes.

The vacuum chamber may he provided with air buffers 15 for the samepurpose as the air buffers 29 in my Patent No. 1,779,005.

When desired short .or dwarf wings 16 may extend outwardly from thevacuum chamber sides and carry ailerons 17 for the usual purposes. Vherethe area of the vacuum chamber, including the spread across the flares,is suflicient to sustainthe vehicle the dwarf wings 16 are made onlylarge enough to act as supports for the ailerons 17. Furthermore thelength of the ailerons from fore to aft is very much less than thelength of the vacuum chamber, as will be ,seen by reference particularlyto Figures 1 and 2.

In interpreting the scope of this invention and the claims hereuntoappended, I de sire it understood that the term body is not to belimited to any particular type of body, be it open cockpit or cabintype, or be it simply a blind fuselage with a cabin suspended beneath,the gist of the present invention being in the provision of the vacuumchamber of such area, design and construction that it will furnish thegreater part, if not all, of the lifting power of the machine, making itpossible to wholly eliminate the use of'wings or to use only dwarf wingsas described.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, it is thought that the complete construction,operation and advantages of my invention will be readily understood tothose skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. Inaeroplanes, a body having a tail end provided with steering ruddersand elevators, an open top chamber located above said body, the walls ofsaid chamber being arranged to deflect the aircurrents so as to producean area of low pressure over said chamber, the side walls of saidchamber being flared and extended laterally andbeyond the body to servein lieu of wings.- v 2. In aeroplanes, a body having a tailiend providedwith steering rudders and elevators, an open top chamber located abovesaid body, the walls of said chamber being arranged tio deflect the aircurrents so as to produce an area of low pressure over said chamber, theside Walls of said chamber being flared and extended. laterallyandbeyond the body to serve in lieu of wings, and a propelling mechanismincluding a propeller located at the front end of said body.

3. In aeroplanes, a body having a tail end provided with steeringrudders and elevators, an open top chamber located above said body, thewalls of said chamber being arranged to deflect the air currents so asto produce an area of low pressure over said chamber, the side walls ofsaid chamber being flared and extended laterally to serve in lieu ofwings, said open top chamber having an air deflecting nose at the frontand being connected with said body by a central longitudinal fin.

4. In aeroplanes, a body having a tail end provided with steeringrudders and elevators, an open top chamber located above said body, thewalls of said chamber being arranged to deflect the air currents so asto produce an area of low pressure over said chamber, the side walls ofsaid chamber beproduce an area of low pressure over said chamber, theside walls of said chamber being flared and extended laterally to servein lieu of Wings, said open top chamber having an air deflecting nose atthe front and being connected with said body by a central longitudinalfin, a portion of which is cut out, and said body having top openingsregistering with said out out portion.

6. In aeroplanes, a body having a tail end provided with steeringrudders and elevators, an open top chamber located above said body, thewalls of said chamber being arrangedto deflect the air currents so as toproduce an area of low pressure over said chamber, the side walls ofsaid chamber being flared and extended laterally and beyond the body toserve in lieu of wings, and dwarf wings with gilerons extendinglaterally from said cham- 7. In aeroplanes, a body having a tail endprovided with steering ruddersand elevators,

an open top chamber located above said body,

the walls of said chamber being arranged to deflect the air currents soas to produce an area of low ressure over said chamber, the side wallsof said chamber being flared and extended laterally and beyond the bodyto serve in lieu of wings, a propelling mechanism including a propellerlocated at the front of said body, and dwarf wings with lzgileronsextending laterally from said chamer. 8. In aeroplanes, a body having atail end provided with steering rudders and elevators, an open topchamber located above said body, the walls of said chamber beingarranged to deflect the air currents so as to produce an area of lowpressure 'over said chamber, the side walls of said chamber being flaredand extended laterally to serve in lieu of Wings, said open top chamberhaving an air deflecting nose at the front and being connected with saidbody by a central longitudinal fin,

. located at the front end. of sai and dwarf wings with aileronsextending laterally from said chamber.

9. In aeroplanes, a body having a tail end provided with steeringrudders and elevators, an open top chamber located above said body, thewalls of said chamber being arranged to deflect the air currents so asto producean area of low ressure over'said chamber, the side walls ofsai'd chamber being flared and extended laterally to serve in lieu ofwings, a propelling mechanism includin a propeller d body, said open topchamber having an air deflecting nose at the front and being connectedwith said body by a central. longitudinal fin, and dwarf wings withailerons extending laterally from said chamber.

10. In aeroplanes, a body having a tail end provided with steeringrudders and elevators, an open top chamber located above the body, thewalls of said chamber being arranged to deflect the air currents so asto produce an area of low pressure over said chamber, the side walls ofsaid chamber being flared and extended laterally to serve in lieu ofwings, said open top chamber having an air deflecting nose at the frontand being connected with said body by a central longitudinal fin, aportion of which is cut out, said body having top openings registeringwith said out out portion, and dwarf wings with ailerons extendinglaterally from the said chamber.

11. In aeroplanes, an elongated body having a tail, end provided withthe usual steering rudders and elevators, an elongated open top chamberlocated over said body and connected with the same along themid-vertical plane, the side walls of said chamber being curved upwardlyand laterally extended beyond the body to serve in lieu of wings, thefront end of said chamber having a downwardly and rearwardly inclinednose portion and an upwardly and rearwardly inclined nose portion todeflect the air currents so as to produce an area 'of low pressure oversaid chamber, substantially as shown and described. 1

12. In aeroplanes, an elongated body having a tail end provided with theusual steering rudders and elevators, an elongated open top chamberlocated over said body and connected with the same along themid-vertical plane, the side walls of said chamber being curved upwardlyand laterally extended beyond thebody to serve in lieu of wings, the

13. In aeroplanes, an elongated body having a tail end provided with theusual steering rudders and elevators, an elongated open top chamberlocated over said body and connected with the same along themid-vertical plane, the side walls of said chamber being curved upwardlyand laterally extended to serve in lieu of wings, the front end of saidchamber having a downwardly and rearwardly inclined nose portion and anupwardly and rearwardly inclined nose portion to deflect the aircurrents so as to produce an area of low pressure over said chamber, a

ropeller mounted at the front. end of said body beneath said nose, thespread of said chamber and the length of said chamber being so designedto produce approximately the full lifting power of the plane, and dwarfwings extending laterally from said .chamber for the purposes described.

EDWARD H. LANIER.

front end of said chamber having a downwardly and rearwardly inclinednose portion and an. upwardly and rearwardly inclined nose portion todeflect the air currents so as to producean area of low pressure oversaid chamber, a propeller mounted at the front end of said body beneathsaid'nose, the spread of sa'd chamber and the length of said chambereing so designed to produce approximately the full lifting power of theplane.

